


So where do we begin?

by voices_in_my_head



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 11pm writing leads to this, Canon Compliant, takes place some months after the finale, their relationship is undefined - see it however you want it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:33:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27717533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voices_in_my_head/pseuds/voices_in_my_head
Summary: "Liam tries to hear Theo, listen to his heartbeat, his evened breathing, but all he hears is his own. He lowers his hands, dropping his head against the door, with slightly more strength than necessary and can’t even say it’s not on purpose. He doesn’t want to knock and wake Theo up, but if he were to wake up by himself…Sense me.A car passes by outside and Liam’s heartbeat increases, but it doesn’t stop, just keeps on its way, not even at a fast speed.What the hell’s someone doing out, driving at 2am?What are you doing out at 2am?Well, Liam’s pretty sure that whoever the driver is, that they aren’t out of bed because they have nightmares about their own neighbors picking up guns to kill them.But really, does it count as a nightmare when it actually happened?"
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 10
Kudos: 77





	So where do we begin?

The first knock at the door is light, barely there. Just Liam trying to find an excuse to turn around and walk away. He holds in his breath, trying to hear inside Derek’s loft but there’s no noise. Of course Theo’s still asleep.

Liam raises his hand again but doesn’t knock, just softly drops his knuckles onto the door. What’s he doing here? It’s past 2am, he should be in bed. Just because it’s a Friday night, it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t get a good night’s sleep.

_Good night’s sleep? What’s that?_ Even Liam’s mental voice is sounding just a bit unhinged.

Liam should leave, right now. Instead, he turns around, puts his back against the door and slowly drops onto the floor, until he’s sitting, legs stretched out.

He exhales, then puts the palms of his hands against his eyes. What is he doing here?

Liam tries to hear Theo, listen to his heartbeat, his evened breathing, but all he hears is his own. He lowers his hands, dropping his head against the door, with slightly more strength than necessary and can’t even say it’s not on purpose. He doesn’t want to knock and wake Theo up, but if he were to wake up by himself…

_Sense me._

A car passes by outside and Liam’s heartbeat increases, but it doesn’t stop, just keeps on its way, not even at a fast speed. _What the hell’s someone doing out, driving at 2am?_

_What are you doing out at 2am?_

Well, Liam’s pretty sure that whoever the driver is, that they aren’t out of bed because they have nightmares about their own neighbors picking up guns to kill them.

But really, does it count as a nightmare when it actually happened?

Liam still remembers the night Brett and Lori died – he feels a pang thinking of them –, how people stared at him. Like he was… _a monster_.

The thing is, Liam doesn’t feel like crying right now. He doesn’t feel angry or sad or even scared. He just feels… empty. Like he’s run out of energy. It’s 2am and he just half ran, half walked all the way from his house to Derek’s loft, where Theo’s been staying for the past few months, and he’s… tired.

Liam slowly gets up, putting his hands on the floor and using them to help him up. He’s turned to the door. He raises one hand, puts his palm against the door.

He should leave. If he leaves right now, Theo will never even know he was here.

Instead, he knocks, this time with some actual strength. Twice, quick ones.

Then he holds his breath, but is forced to let it go before Theo opens the door. Liam tries to focus on what’s beyond the door. There, footsteps.

He takes one step back from the door and suddenly it’s being opened, Theo on the other side. He’s frowning, wearing only a T-shirt and boxers, standing there barefoot. Liam doesn’t think he’s ever seen him barefoot; he has to force down the slightly hysterical laugh trying to force its way out – you can fight with a guy, almost die by his side, and still never have seen him barefoot. It’s not even that funny but Liam can’t let it go.

“Liam? What’s wrong?”

Liam doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even open his mouth. He knows he should say something, otherwise Theo’ll get worried – even if he won’t show it – but the words… they just aren’t coming out.

“Hey,” Theo is still frowning. He raises one hand and puts it on Liam’s shoulder, squeezing. “Talk to me.”

Liam swallows. “I couldn’t sleep.”

Theo’s eyes soften and Liam half wants to look away, half never wants to stop looking at him.

“Do you want to come in?” Theo moves away to give him enough space and Liam does enter the loft, kind of dragging his feet, even though he’s the one who showed up unannounced at 2am. It must be past that, though. 2:30? Not 3am, surely. Not yet.

Theo closes the door behind him and Liam turns to look at him. Theo’s rubbing an arm with a hand, cold. Almost without thought, Liam closes the distance between them, raising his hands to rub Theo’s arms, trying to warm him up. Theo lowers his hand, stares at Liam.

He should stop, should move back. This is weird, right? But Liam is having a hard time realizing what exactly is weird about this and Theo isn’t moving away either.

“I had a nightmare,” Liam says, talking more to Theo’s neck than his face. He can still see his expression, but unfocused.

Theo doesn’t say anything right away. Then, “do you wanna talk about it?”

Liam takes in a deep breath. Then he slowly lets it out. “What’s the point?” He doesn’t sound angry or sad or even defeated. Just tired.

“Hey,” Theo puts a finger underneath his chin, pushing it up, though not with so much strength that Liam wouldn’t be able to stop him if he wanted to. “If you want to tell me about it, I want to hear it.”

“And if I don’t want to talk about it?”

Theo studies him for a few seconds, Liam not looking away from his eyes. “Then we won’t talk about it.”

Liam nods, though his throat feels kind of dry. He doesn’t know why until Theo continues, “you can stay either way.” Ah, that’s what he was fearing.

Liam sighs, hands still on Theo’s arms. He leans forward, lets his head drop against Theo’s chest. “I’m tired.”

Theo touches his back, touch almost feather like, slowly increasing the pressure, but never hurtful.

They stay like that for a while until Theo says, “come on,” and lets go of Liam, who does it too, frowning and confused – maybe a little bit hurt too. Theo grabs one of Liam’s hand and starts walking towards his bedroom, which Liam’s only seen through glimpses.

He doesn’t pay it a lot of attention, though, just notices how it’s more bare than his. Theo leads him to the bed, to the left side and then puts his hands on Liam’s shoulders and pushes him down, Liam going without fighting it, sitting on the bed.

Theo gets on his knees and Liam swallows, very much unsure of himself, of this moment, but all Theo does is take off his shoes.

“Socks or no socks?” His voice comes out almost in a whisper and Liam replies in the same tone, though his voice kind of cracks.

“Socks,” he doesn’t like having cold feet, even though he’ll more often than not wake up with a lost sock.

Theo nods, then shuffles forward to unbuckle Liam’s belt, pulling down his jeans, Liam getting slightly up to help with the movement, then just going along with whatever Theo does, first raising one foot, then the other. Theo gets up with his pants, taking off his phone, wallet and keys and putting them on his bedside table.

“Come on, lie down.” Liam stares at Theo for a couple seconds, then does as told, the bed already unmade – Theo had just been sleeping in it, after all. It’s not really all that warm anymore.

Theo goes around the bed to get on the other side, getting inside and pulling the covers over the both of them. He turns on his side, both hands underneath his head. Liam turns to face him as well, one hand in the middle of the bed, wanting to touch but keeping its distance.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Theo asks, still in that low tone. Liam knows that if he says no, he won’t push.

“I’m afraid people are still out to get us. That even without the Anuk-Ite influencing them, they still want to hurt us,” he swallows, “kill us.” Liam takes a deep breath, feels pinpricks on his eyes, blinks them to make sure he doesn’t cry.

Theo doesn’t say anything right away. The only light in the room is coming from outside, window not fully covered; Liam can see Theo’s outline, but not much else. He doesn’t know if he’s happy about it or not. “I don’t know what to say.”

Liam snorts, though he’s not really amused. “Most people would tell me I’m stupid for being afraid.”

“No, they wouldn’t,” Theo says, decisively. “They might try to convince you there’s nothing to be afraid of but… That’s not true, is it? You’re not just having nightmares; they’re memories.”

Liam’s heart starts beating faster. Theo takes one hand from underneath his head to put it against Liam’s chest, fingers splayed out.

“I told you I didn’t know what to say,” he sounds kind of regretful.

“I’m glad you’re honest,” he says and Theo huffs.

“That’s me, always honest.”

“You are, with me.”

“Now.”

Liam exhales, “now.”

They’re both quiet after that, Liam starting to feel sleepy, but there’s still a lot of thoughts running through his mind and he finds that he wants to share them. “That’s all that we have, isn’t it? Now.”

Theo huffs again, but this time it turns into a kind of sigh. “You can’t just forget what I did.”

“I haven’t. I’m not,” Liam makes a fist with the hand between them. “I’m tired of being angry. You don’t make me angry.”

Theo inhales sharply, like the words caught him off guard. Liam kind of realizes just how intimate their position is; it’s not like he’s never shared a bed before with a friend, but this feels different. Theo feels different.

The hand still on his chest feels warm, Liam relaxes the hand laying on the bed and moves it to put it on top of Theo’s, making it kind of tremble against him.

“What are we doing, Liam?” Theo asks and if there was anything else to listen to in the flat besides regular house noises like the fridge working or the pipes, Liam would have missed the words. As it is, he doesn’t, and slowly inhales.

“You make me feel safe,” he says and maybe they’re not the right words, maybe he should say something else, but it’s what comes out.

Theo shuffles on the bed, like he doesn’t know what he wants to do. Eventually, Liam sees him coming closer, then he touches their foreheads together.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Liam grabs a hold of the hand still against him, strongly. “I don’t want you hurt either.”

Theo doesn’t say anything right away, Liam having closed his eyes, still feeling his forehead touching his.

They stay quiet and Liam finally starts to think that Theo isn’t going to say anything; because he can’t promise not to get hurt. “Please,” he says, all in one breath.

Theo exhales loudly, “I’ll try.”

“Not just for me,” Liam says, finally opens his eyes, shifts them so he can see Theo detailed.

“Not just for you,” Theo promises. “For me.”

Liam nods against his forehead; that’s what he wants. He doesn’t want to be Theo’s reason to be careful with himself, he just wants to be… there, with him. By his side.

Theo keeps their foreheads touching, though Liam’s hold on his hand slackens. He feels his eyelids starting to drop. “Thank you. For opening the door.”

“Of course,” Theo says, like it’s that easy. It makes Liam smile and he feels Theo finally lean back, but he follows his body, ending up half lying on top of him, his head on his shoulder, one leg between his.

“Is this okay?” He whispers.

“Yes,” Theo kisses Liam’s head. “Now sleep.”

Liam exhales. He thinks now, here, he’ll be able to do it. And if he has nightmares… Then he’ll wake up and he’ll remember they’re just that.


End file.
